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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Motorists who use the Pango mobile app to pay at parking meters in Scranton will get reimbursed for any inadvertent overcharges since Sept. 1, the new operator of the city’s parking system said.
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The ailing Valley View High School pool is temporarily closed. School board directors unanimously voted Wednesday to decommission the natatorium and preserve the area until funding becomes available
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Editor: The May 16 letter to the editor noting that the "nuns on the bus" cross-country tour will be stopping at St. John Neuman Parish in Scranton on May 29 raises concern.

Their featured speaker will be Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network and leader of the Nuns on the Bus Network, founded in the 1970s by a group of radical nuns, distorts social justice issues to advance political agendas and ignores issues held by the church as non-negotiable, thereby subverting its authority.

Their political actions are so out of step with the teaching of the Catholic Church that on April 15 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed the 2012 censure of LCWR, also know as Leadership Conference of Women Religious (and Network) as undermining the faith in the United States.

These consecrated women religious speak on social issues as though they have the authority of the church. They have no such authority. For example, they uphold women's ordination, gender-adjusted language in the liturgy, etc. If, as they claim, Network is Catholic, then what explains their silence on traditional marriage between one man and one woman?

Does Sister Simone uphold Catholic teaching on abortion? If so, when asked at the DNC if it should be illegal to perform abortions, why did she reply, "That's beyond my pay grade. I don't know"?

Without question, hosting this event in any diocesan facility rises to the level of scandal. It would be highly offensive to priests and laity alike. It would wrongly provide legitimacy to this dissident organization. It would give a platform to that which runs counter to two millennia of church teaching solidly upheld and reaffirmed by Pope Francis.

MARY ANN HAAS

SCRANTON

Flawed in faith

Editor: Richard Yost (Your Opinion, May 13) stated that Sen. Bob Casey appears to understand the dictum and the discipline of "live in the world but not of the world." I vehemently disagree.

Mr. Casey is living "of the world." He professes to be a faithful Catholic. With that comes the responsibility of standing with and for the tenets of the Catholic faith, specifically the sanctity of life and traditional marriage. As Catholics, we cannot leave our Catholicism in the car when we go into the workplace and into the voting booth.

In the foreword to "Catholics in the Public Square," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver wrote: "Private conviction is not a separate universe, distinct from public life. If we really believe in Jesus Christ, if we really mean it when we say we're Catholic, then that's the soil from which all our public actions should flower, including our political choices."

BARBARA YANCHEK

JERMYN

Countering celebs

Editor: After months of intensive study, the Department of Environmental Protection has determined that natural gas exploration in Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County, was not to blame for high methane levels in well water.

The Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency also has determined that its previous belief that fracking was a major climate change catalyst was wrong. In fact, the EPA dramatically lowered its methane emission projections from the industry.

These findings fly in the face of anti-fracking celebrities like Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon who like to do fly-ins to visit drilling sites to pontificate about the environment. I feel sorry for the people who would believe a celebrity with no scientific training or education, as they diagnose the cause of their well water difficulties. If they were sick, would they go to a celebrity for a diagnosis because they played one on TV?

The truth is, natural gas is an affordable, abundant, clean-burning fuel that we have right under our feet. While every industry might have an occasional accident, the natural gas industry does a remarkable job at keeping its projects safe. It's time for the fear-mongering by celebrities to stop and for our state to become the leader it can be in the energy industry.

VINCENT G. GAGLIONE

SCRANTON

Model moms

Editor: Congratulations and thank you to The Times-Tribune for the heart-warming stories on Mother's Day about those two mothers, Mollie Conway and Jeannine Radocesky. These two extraordinary moms in our midst are two shining examples of "motherhood."

I have seen what it takes to care for someone who can't take care of himself as well as taking care of others when you are ill yourself. These are two remarkable women, and truly "superstars" of our times. Ladies, take a bow.

CAROL HUNTER

SCRANTON

Untaken leap

Editor: State Attorney General Kathleen Kane says marijuana is a "gateway drug" ("Kane against pot legalization," May 18). So why don't we have more than 100 million heroin addicts? More than 100 million cocaine addicts? More than 100 million meth addicts?

More than 100 million Americans have used marijuana at least once, according to the DEA.

KIRK MUSE

MESA, ARIZ.

Demeaning duty

Editor: Last Thursday, President Obama had a press conference in the Rose Garden.

He was joined by the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the Q&A a drizzling rain started so Obama asked: "Why don't we get a couple Marines, they're going to look good next to us."

So two of our decorated finest were obliged to stand in the rain, in their dress blues, holding umbrellas over Mr. Obama and his guest. How demeaning and insulting to "the few, the proud."

Why am I not surprised that the media, print and video, did not bother to share this outrage with the public?

Google "Marines holding umbrellas" to see this humiliation for yourself.

MIKE PHILLIPS

HAMLIN

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